Al-Taybah

For other places with similar names, see Taybeh (disambiguation).
Al-Tayba
الطيبة
Tayyiba
Village
Al-Tayba

Location in Syria

Coordinates: 34°53′N 38°52′E / 34.883°N 38.867°ECoordinates: 34°53′N 38°52′E / 34.883°N 38.867°E
Country  Syria
Governorate Homs Governorate
District Tadmur District
Nahiyah Al-Sukhnah
Population (2004)
 • Total 2,413
Time zone EET (UTC+3)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+2)

Al-Tayba (Arabic: الطيبة‎, also spelled Tayyiba or Tayibah) is a village in eastern Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate. It is located in the Syrian Desert, near the Euphrates River to the east and al-Sukhnah and the village of al-Kawm to the west. Like many of the other desert towns in Syria, it is situated in a spring-fed oasis. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Taybah had a population of 2,413 in the 2004 census.[1]

History

Al-Taybah is an Arabic name meaning "the Good."[2] In the early 13th-century Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi noted al-Taybah was a "village in the district of 'Urd, lying between Palmyra and Aleppo."[3]

Al-Taybah was visited in 1616 by Italian explorer Pietro Della Valle who noted that the presence of several "old relics" in the village. The mosque was well-maintained and appeared to have previously served as a church tower. Residences consisted of mud huts, many of which were reinforced by ancient stone columns.[2]

The village was abandoned sometime in the 18th-century with its inhabitants migrating to nearby al-Sukhnah. The modern-day settlement was founded in 1870 after one of the descendants of the 17th-century emigrants from al-Taybah and a resident of al-Sukhnah obtained permission by the governor of the Sanjak of Zor (Deir ez-Zor). He established the new village with ten or twelve other families. The Ottomans set up a gendarmerie post there afterward.[4] In 1838 al-Taybah was classified as an abandoned village by English scholar Eli Smith.[5]

At some point between 1914-1918, during World War I when Ottoman authority in Syria was being challenged, al-Taybah was raided and looted by Bedouin tribesmen from the area, resulting in a second exodus of the village's residents. It was reoccupied during French Mandate rule which restored a level of security in al-Taybah.[4]

References

  1. ↑ General Census of Population and Housing 2004. Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Homs Governorate. (Arabic)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Musil, 1928, p. 76.
  3. ↑ le Strange, p. 545.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mundy and Musallam, p. 42.
  5. ↑ Smith, 1841, p. 174.

Bibliography